Roller-mill



2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(No Model.)

W. A. OANTWELL.

ROLLER MILL.

No. 390,839. Patented Oct. 9, 1888.

{72/ ymu f (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. W. A. OANTWELL.

ROLLER MILL.

No. 390,839. Patented Oct. 9, 1888.

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llnrrnn STATES PATENT @rrrcn.

VALTER ANDREW OANTVVELL, OF ASTORIA, ILLINOIS.

ROLLER-NULL.

$PECIPICA'I'ION forming part of Letters Patent No. 390,839, dated October 9, 1888.

Application filed August 1, 1884.

R newed June 21, 1886. Serial No. 205, .'l5. (X0 model.)

To all whom it may 0072106772,."

Be it known that I, W A LTER ANDREW CANT- WELL, of Astoria, in the county of Fulton and State of Illinois, have invented certain Improvements in Roller-Mills, of which the following is a specification.

The object of the invention is to avoid the bad effects of heated air above the grindingrolls, and to eliminate the discoloring specks or particles thrown off from the bran by the said rolls.

I first illustrate in the drawings by a sectional elevation, marked Figure 1, the grindingroll chamber, hopper, and two sets of rolls as they are now used and operated by me. Fig. 2 is the same view exhibiting the same parts of a flour-mill and showing the changes or improvements which I have made. Fig. 3 is a side elevation showing the position of the suction-fan.

In the drawings, A represents the hoppers, having at their outlets the usual feed-rolls, a,- B, the feed-troughs leading to the space between the rolls; 0, the slow and O the fast grindingrolls; D, hinged doors, and E the roll-chambers into which said doors give access. d is a partition separating the two sets of rolls.

In lilting the covers D (shown in Fig. 1) hot air, apparently under considerable pressure and containing in suspension much discoloring material,issued from the roll-chamber with a great deal of force, thus proving that the hot air, the upward tendency thereof, and the suspended particles of the bran coatings were the causes of injury to the quality of the flour made. The current of air and the heat generated by the grinding-rolls are injurious in two waysone by heating and warping the woodwork, and the other by carrying up the specks and particles from the bran to the elevators and flouring-reels. In mild weather the heat swells and warps the wood-work,while in cool weather the condensation of the substances by the cooling of the air leaves a crust of dough on the iron-work. As soon as the mill has stopped for a day or two this deposit dries, and when the mill starts flakes off in large chunks.

Another bad effect of the hot air and the matter which it holdsin suspension is the tendency to choke up and clog the meshes of the bolting-cloth, so as to necessitate frequent brushing of the reels and sometimes a stoppage of the mill.

In Fig. 2 of the drawings will be seen the means which I have employed to overcome these difficulties. In order to carry out the accumulating hot air and suspended particles of coloring-matter from the roll-chambers E, I make air-inlets d in thehinged doors D and form a vertical outletchannel, h, for each set of rolls. With the upper ends of these channels I connect asuction-fan, F,whichis shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings, but may be of any suitable pattern, form, or construction. This fan draws a constant current of air through the inlets d across the chambers E, directly over the grinding-rolls O G, up the outletchannels h, and thence wherever desired. I prefer to place the dust-spouts j between the channels h and the fan, and preferably take the current of air to a dust-catcher or dustroom.

13 t are slides by which the draft through the channels it may be conveniently regulated.

d are hoods which are arranged on the outside of the hinged covers D, so as to prevent anything but air from being drawn into the roll chambers, while 75 are deflecting-boards arranged on the inside of the covers D, so as to cause the air to descend and issue in a broad stream over and as close aspossible to the upper part of the rolls. The current is thus made to carry with it the hot air and flufi'y material rising from the rolls.

m are covers extending directly over and very near the tops of the fast rolls 0, so that the centrifugal force of these rolls may not throw any of the good stock into the pathway of the air-current.

It should be noted that the vertical air-passage h is arranged outside of the walls of the hopper and communicates at its lower end immediately with the roll-chamber E, while its upper end maybe made to communicate either directly with the atmosphere in the mill-room or with the outer atmosphere, so that a conduit is formed for the heated air generated in the roll-chamber, and such heated air conveyed off, the difference between the temperature of the latter and the air within the roll chamber being such that a gentle current upward is induced, and I havei'ound from eX- perience that this simple construction and arrangement preserves an even temperature within the roll-chamber, and successfully accomplishes the objects sought to be attained.

I am aware that it is not broadly new to draw or force air through a stream of grain as it falls from the hopper, or through the flour as it falls from the rolls; but no one, so far as I am aware, has combined and arranged the co operating devices for the purpose of purifying the grain and flour as I have done.

What I desire toprotect by Letters Patent is specified in the following claims:

1. In a rollergrindingmiIl embodying in its organization suitable reducing-rolls arranged within the roll-chamber E, a double hopper arranged above the rolls, and a vertical airpassage, 71, communicating at its lower end with said roll-chamber E and passing upward between the walls of the hopper, which walls form the boundaries of said air-passage, subsiantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. The combination of the cover D, having air-inlet d and inside deflector, 76, the hopper, the airehamber E, extending unobstruetedly from said deflector and intermediate] y across the rolls and hopper, a partition, d,a suetioir fan connected with said air-chamber, and a channel, h, between the hopper and partition, substantially as shown and described.

3. In a flour-mill, the combination, with hinged covers D, formed with airinlets, of the outer hoods, (1", extending over the air inlets in said covers, as and for the purpose set forth.

4. In a flour-mill, the combinati0n,with the roll-chambers and the hinged covers I), having air inlets, of the inside deflectors, 7c, arranged across said air-inlets whereby the incoming current of air may be directed downwardly and spread to enter the roll-ehambers, as and for the purpose described.

5. The combination, with a roll chamber, and means connected therewith to produce a current of air transversely over the: rolls, substantially as described, of covers m, arranged directly over and in close proximity to the upper parts of the fast rolls 0', as and for the purpose specified.

WALT 1'] it AN DRE W (A N'l WE LL.

Witnesses:

E. Bo'rTnNnnno, A. I. CANTWELL. 

